red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter lxxvi: the final battle

author's note: the drawing up there? yeah, i tried ://

enjoy reading!!

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"bold of you to still show yourself here after what happened to my daughter."

mikey looked up at the fine adult, frowning at his words. the day after he took kazua home from nearly getting raped, he visited to check up on her. he didn't expect that her parents would be the ones to greet him by the gate this time.

"i'm sorry. i did what i could to protect her." he bowed respectfully. "i didn't let them touch her any further. is she alright?"

kazua's father glared down at him. he didn't care that he was apologizing. the fact that their only inheritor was nearly raped enraged him, and it was enough for him to block out all of mikey's apologies.

"ever since my daughter hung out with you, she's been straying away from the path we created for her." he began. "and yesterday, she was in danger because of you. i don't want you near her ever again. leave."

"please, let me see for myself that she's alright." mikey bit his lip, still bowing. "i'll leave her alone after this last visit."

"no."

mikey knew it.

he knew that being friends with him would bring a lot of danger to her, and he had been thinking about this for awhile now.

maybe kazua really is better off without him.

what if he fails to save her from those jerks next time?

with him creating a new gang, he's bound to have lots of enemies too. he can't risk her safety just like that.

it's too selfish of him to think that she'll remain by his side until the future.

the closed gate was never opened to him, and kazua's father turned his back to head back inside his house.

mikey helplessly dropped down the ground, his palms colliding with the rough asphalt. "this might be the best." he muttered to himself. "sazu...i'll protect you even if it means to stay away from you."

he heavily sighed. "i'm sorry."

"kazua?!"

takemitchy's eyes popped out of their sockets. senju and draken were surprised to see her too. wearing the brahman uniform unbuttoned, showing off her toned body because of her only upper attire being chest wraps, was sada kazua in the flesh.

she grins, waving at senju and takemitchy standing behind draken as they gaped at her. "yahoo~" she greeted. "i'm not late, am i?"

"who is that?"

"a brahman member?"

"i never saw her in the hideout."

"idiot, that's sada kazua! she's the closest to the boss!"

from the looks of it, she was as fresh as a newborn baby. it must be because of the five days of sleep that she got. after all, she didn't wake up even once.

"i got here as soon as i heard from inui." she said. "well, i ate a bit first. i was hungry."

"y-you're awake. are you okay now?" senju reached up to her forehead and felt her temperature. "you don't have a fever anymore, but you can't fight after just waking up."

"oh, watch me, bestie." kazua lightly kissed the girl's cheek.

"oi, brahman!" terano called over. "what's taking so long?! chickening out already?!"